EMILY’s List, the national campaign funding organization that works to elect pro-choice women to public office, endorsed Carolyn Long to represent Washington’s 3rd Congressional District.
In an announcement Tuesday, the organization — whose name is shorthand for “Early Money Is Like Yeast,” (i.e., it raises the dough) — said it would again throw its weight behind Long, a Democrat, in her bid to unseat the Republican incumbent Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler.
Last election cycle, Long lost her bid for Congress but gave Herrera Beutler her closest race since 2010, picking up 47.3 percent of the vote to Herrera Beutler’s 52.7 percent.
“Herrera Beutler has consistently supported President Trump’s harmful agenda, voting to take away access to affordable health care and to defund Planned Parenthood,” EMILY’s List President Stephanie Schriock said in a prepared statement.
“In 2018, Carolyn made this race more competitive than it had been in nearly a decade, and in 2020, EMILY’s List has complete confidence that she will be able to win.”
In the last cycle, EMILY’s List didn’t endorse Long until July 2018, less than four months before the general election. In just that time, Long received around $26,500 in direct contributions from the organization and an additional $15,785 from private donors earmarked through the group, according to data from the Federal Election Commission.
This time around, the group’s emphasizing the “early” in its “early money” motto. Long has 14 more months of fundraising to go, an effort that will likely be bolstered with a stamp of approval from the political action committee.
In a media release, Long said she was “honored” to have earned the group’s support again.
“Emily’s List is a national champion for women in politics. It is time that Southwest Washingtonian women get a champion for them in Congress so we can make health care accessible and affordable, invest in fixing our crumbling infrastructure and lower the prices of prescription drugs,” Long said. “We deserve a member who is present in the community and willing to listen to those whom she represents.”
When it comes to funding women in politics, EMILY’s List is the 800-pound gorilla, with a bigger wallet than any other female-focused PAC in the country — liberal or conservative.
The organization has raised more than $600 million to spend on recruiting, training and supporting candidates. In the 2018 election, the group helped flip 24 seats from red to blue; “enough seats to have delivered the U.S. House majority alone,” the group’s press release stated.
Their endorsement of Long was unsurprising, as Long is the only woman in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District running as a Democrat in 2020. So far, her two declared primary challengers on the left, Peter Khalil and Rudy Atencio, are both men.
